by Michael Sheehan on November 29, 2011
in Apple, application, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Fix It, Gadgets, General, how to, HTD Tech Tip, iPad, iPhone, ipod, Mobile, Software
I kept hearing about how with iOS 5, you could set up Reminders that would trigger when you arrived or left a particular location. It’s a pretty neat concept. You can program in an address, like your work, and set up a series of to-dos that magically remind you when you are geographically near that location. Or perhaps, you are at a vacation home and need to have a checklist pop up as you leave the location (e.g., did you check to be sure the hot tub was set to low). It’s a smart use of GPS technology to let your brain focus on other items at hand.
So I was very excited to set up some shopping lists that would pop up when I arrived at my local supermarket. Only, I had a problem, I couldn’t figure out how to put in the additional geo-location details to my to-do’s or reminders (and I’m supposed to be good at this stuff). After a bit of digging, I figured it out (and I’m a bit surprised that Apple seemed to bury this functionality into the app).
Here are the steps to create and configure a Location-based reminder:
1) Create a new Reminder. Remember, choose an iCloud-related list. I tried to do this with a Task list that was synced with my Outlook/Exchange profile and the location setting does not show.
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I’m writing much of this review on an airplane right now. And I’m wearing a Scott E Vest (SEV) Classic Men’s Travel Vest. Just a few minutes ago, I lost my free drink ticket in one of the 22 pockets in the SEV lightweight vest. I did manage to find it a few minutes later, buried deep in one of the outside side pockets. But let me tell you, having one of these multi-pocket vests on a trip and going through the airport is essential.
Traversing through security was a breeze actually. Instead of putting things into the plastic tray, I started loading them into the various pockets of my SEV. My belt with a big metal buckle went in the outside, my phone went into one of the inner pockets that are devoted to touch-screen devices. My boarding passes were put into the appropriately labeled “ticket” pocket. My sun glasses were stashed in the sunglasses pocket (which has a chamois attached to a bungee cord – I always show that off to people). And my car keys were attached to another bungee in another pocket as well.
Once I loaded up the vest with all of the items that were in my pocket, the rest was easy. I just put the whole vest into a tray and off it went through the X-ray. Conversely, I put my other gadgets into trays as well as leaving them in my big gadget backpack. So what happen next? Well, my SEV went through without problem but the backpack didn’t. There were just to many “high-density” electronics in it. I had to take out the laptop, the cameras, the iPad, etc. and have them go through separately. I have a feeling that if I had put some of those items into the SEV, that I wouldn’t have had to have put through the backpack twice.
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by Michael Sheehan on October 28, 2011
in Apple, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Fix It, Gadgets, General, Hardware, how to, iPad, iPhone, ipod, Mobile, Software
The upgrade to Apple’s iOS 5 is a few weeks behind us now and most people are up and running on it. And, now the iPhone 4S is out in the market and more people are migrating over from older iPhones to the new iPhone 4S. I haven’t heard of too many issues as part of the upgrade process, though my upgrade on my iPhone 4 was a bit chaotic. I had to go through a restore from backup a few times (I can’t remember all of the exact particulars but it was quite involved, including a few hours of restoring all of my data and applications).
However, one thing that I remember clearly was once I “thought” that I had completed my upgrade and restore from backup, I couldn’t launch ANY applications. Well, let me rephrase that. I COULD launch all of the standard base applications that came with iOS5, but none of my 3rd party applications would launch. I would click on them and then they would appear to launch but then immediately quit or crash! It was extremely frustrating!
But I figured out what the issue was and how to fix this issue of crashing applications after the upgrade.
Essentially, I had not let the restore process complete. I had lots of applications, music, photos, data, etc. on my iPhone and since I was restoring from a previous backup, I hadn’t let the process works its way through. And the reason why I thought I was done with the restore is because of the following: there is a big but subtle different between iOS 4.x and iOS 5, synchronization on iOS 5 now takes place in the background. You are no longer greeted with the “Sync in Progress” screen.
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by Michael Sheehan on October 17, 2011
in Apple, application, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, General, Hardware, how to, iPad, iPhone, ipod, Mobile, Software
Last week I talked about a few new tidbits and tricks in Apple’s new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 5 (enable Emoji keyboard, get the camera button to appear in the lock screen and how to launch the new built-in dictionary). I have 3 more pretty cool little tips and tricks this time around, namely: cellular data for purchases, custom vibrations and hourly & localized weather.
Use Cellular Data for Store Purchases
Now you don’t have to be restricted to just using a WiFi connection when downloading large apps. If you go into the Settings > Store there is a toggle to use a cellular network to download purchases.
Be careful though, if you have a large app, for example, you may hit some of your data caps (unless you have the grandfathered unlimited data plan like I do). It’s usually better to either download larger apps when you are connected to a WiFi network or by syncing to your computer. (Remember too, you can set up a wireless sync between your iOS device and your laptop and you can transfer purchases you make via that method.) [click to continue…]
